San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-04-18
FOOD FRAUDS.
The Shameful use Of Lime and Alum IN
Cheap Baking Powders.

The Shameful use of Lime and Alum in
Cheap Baking Powders.
Many food frauds. such as ohicory coi-
ee or watered milk, although tbey are
swindle In q commercial sense, are otten
tolerated because they do not parncu .
larly affect the health of the consumer:
but when an article like baking powder,
that enters largely into the food OF every
family, and is relied upon for the prepa'
ration of almost every meal, Is so made
as to carry highly Injurious, II not rank
ly poisonous, elements In the bread. the
entire community is endangered, and it
is the duty Of the press TO denounce the
practice 10 the most emphatic terms.
Among the important discoveries by
the food analysis Is that by Prof.. Mott,
the United States government chemist,
of large amounts OF alum In the cheap
In the cheap baking powders. The Sc
are, one the most angerOus, and the
other the most useless adulterant yet
found In the low grade, inferior baking
powders. IL Is startling fact that 81
the many brands Of baking powders SO
far analyZed, none OF them, with the
single exception OF the Royal Baking
Baking Powder, was found free from
both lime and alum. The chief service
OF lime Is to add weight. 1t is true that
lime, when subjected TO heat, gives OIL II
certain amount of carbOnic acid gas, but
a quick lime IL left a caustic so power
full that 1t Is used by tsnn,rs TO
eat the hair from hides OF ami
mails, and in dissecting rooEls TO
more quickly rot the flesh from the
bones OF dead subjects A small quanti-
ty of dry lime upon the tongue, or In
81 f1l
much more serious must these effects he
on the delicate membranes Of the stom-
ach, intestines and kidneys, more par
ticularly OF infants and children, and es-
pecially when the lime is taken into the
system day after day, and with almost
every meal. This Is said by physicians
to be one of the causes OF indigestion,
dyspepsia, and those painful diseases Of
the kidneys now so prevalent. Instances
of the most serious affections OF the lat
ter organs from drinking lime water
found n some sections are noted In every
medical journal.
Adulteration with lime is quite
as much to be dreaded as with
alum, which has heretofore re-
ceived the most emphatic condemnation
from every food analyst, physician and
chemist, for the reason that, while alum
is probably partially dissolved and
passed of In gas by the heat OF baking,
it is impossible to destroy or change the
nature Of the lime in any degree, so that
the entire amount in the baking powder
passes, with all its injurious properties,
into the stomach. When we state that
the chemists have found IL per cent, or
one-eighth of the entire weight OF some
samples of baking powder analysed, TO
be lime, the wickedness OF the adultera-
ton will be apparent.
Pure baking powders are one of the
chief aids TO the cook In preparing per-
feet and wholesome food. While those
are to be obtained of well established
reputation, like the Royal, of whose
purity there has never been a question,
1t is proper to avoid all others.
BEGIN turning a clank and who will
tell when to stop. The Georgia dry
cranks are proposing tax of 81 900 on
every citizen who uses wine at his table.
1t Is well! Pile on the agony; the more
fool measures proposed, the sooner will
the good sense of the people dispose OF
hem.
KANSAS has it bad. According to
recent law in that state, no man can
open drugstore without getting a petit
tion signed by twenty-five women; and
every man who buys a pint of liquor
must take an oath declaring what he
intends to do with il.
The kick still goes on against the fail
urs of the state Legislature to give us a
school law, a libel law, II geological sur
vey law, or a decent appropriation for
reform school. Kicking makes no good
legislation, or Texas would be legeseated
into paradise.